Chairperson, hon members, it is an honour for me to represent the ANC in this debate on this day. This debate takes place in the very same year when we celebrated 50 years of the Freedom Charter, 50 years of the march by the women of this country against oppressive apartheid laws and 30 years of a revolt by our youth against forced Afrikaans as a medium of education in 1976.
My approach to this debate will focus on the role of local government in the fight against poverty. This will entail my understanding of poverty as it relates to South Africa and the continent. I will briefly unpack how poverty is measured for us to strategise on solutions to the problem, including its manifestations. I will also structure my discussion to reflect three pillars on which local government deals with the eradication of poverty: the developmental role of local government in poverty alleviation, governance and local government and the role of women in local government.
According to an article in a journal on public administration, Renosi Mokgati from the HSRC writes:
Poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon. It is understood as a condition that manifests itself in a number of ways, including the lack of income, insufficient resources and vulnerability to social, political and environmental shocks. Individuals and households become vulnerable because they lack the assets or combination of assets that can enable them to cope or manage the negative effects of the external shocks.
Poverty is a result of a number of interrelated factors. According to the World Bank, South Africa as a developing country has the character of other developing countries in terms of high population growth, low per capita real income, high unemployment, disguised employment rate, and low productivity, and high levels of poverty.
Chairperson, because of bad planning under apartheid and a lack of a developmental agenda, South Africa remains with the following challenges that are directly linked to poverty: the eradication of poverty and extreme income and wealth disparities and inequalities, the provision of access to quality and affordable basic services to all South Africans, a sustained reduction in the unemployment rate and the attainment of a sustainable high economic growth rate.
It cannot be denied and it is an undisputable fact that the historical background to this subject in South Africa has left an indelible problem. Apartheid's separate development has promoted the deprivation of services with regard to the majority of the population. How has it promoted environmental degradation? Against this backdrop provincial and local government is at the coalface of everything. It becomes relevant to us addressing these challenges through its mandate and interventions. Let me quote President Thabo Mbeki on the occasion of his inauguration, as well as the tenth anniversary of our freedom in Pretoria:
South Africa was a place that decreed that some were born into poverty and would die poor.